OLYMPIC REVIVAL
Perhaps the most obvious transformation of Barcelona’s waterfront is found at Port Vell. Its status before and after the 1992 Olympics is night and day. The city took a disused eyesore (comprised of empty warehouses and factories), rethought its urban potential, and executed its renewal expertly.
// PORT VELL AREA
Going into the process of regeneration prior to 1992, the location of Port Vell was its greatest strength. Although its base originates at the end of Via Laietana, the pier doglegs at its midpoint, redirecting its waterbound end toward the terminus of Barcelona’s most famous street: La Rambla. This relationship was skillfully exploited in the port’s redevelopment. Requiring only a slight kink, an extension of La Rambla was built across the harbor to meet the end of Port Vell. Additionally, the highway (dividing the end of La Rambla from the water’s edge) was pushed below grade, giving pedestrians sight and access to the waterfront.
Once connected to such a major pedestrian axis, Port Vell was primed for success. A shopping mall, aquarium, IMAX theater, and series of outdoor public spaces were built on the pier. The public was given both easy access to Port Vell and a handful of good reasons to be there. Combine this with the novelty of its location on the water and you have an extremely popular addition to the city.
// VIEW OUT FROM SHOPPING MALL
// BARCELONA AQUARIUM
RAMBLA DE MAR
The new bridge extending La Rambla out over the water and connecting to the pier of Port Vell was given the name Rambla de Mar. Although it can be defined as a bridge, Rambla de Mar is not solely a path from point A to B. Despite a lack of formal partitioning of spaces and their functions over the course of the bridge, its continuous surface is clearly meant to be used as both function and leisure. The main axis of the bridge is a straight shot in plan that rises in elevation in the center and back down at both ends. Broad spaces also break off this central path and define a looser edge condition of unprogrammed surface. All of this is done while retaining the functioning marina that is sandwiched between the pier and bridge. Although you may not catch it on your first trip over, Rambla de Mar is a swing bridge with pivoting sections to allow water traffic through when needed.
// MAIN AXIS
// FUNCTION (LEFT), LEISURE (RIGHT)
// BRIDGE WITH CENTER PIVOTED
As the primary path of the bridge inclines toward the center, secondary spaces break the plane of the walking surface and peel away in section. Once off of the main path, glass dividers running perpendicular to the axis of the bridge shelter users from the wind. Visitors will also find benches, defining this as a place to stop and spend time. The minimal edge of the wooden deck is cut cleanly, with no guardrail, inviting you to hang your feet over.
// EDGE CONDITION
The entire surface of the bridge is composed of consistently directional wooden decking. This material continuity ties the various conditions of the bridge together and allows the users to decide where function ends and leisure begins. From the air, this distinction is easier to separate, but feels quite continuous from the pedestrians’ point of view.
// MATERIAL CONTINUITY (NOTE BREAK IN WOOD WHERE PIVOT OCCURS)
Rambla de Mar is first and foremost a path. This is clear from it axial form and urban context as a connector. However, it is also able to create a sense of place. Its combination of path and place is what brings interest to the bridge. It is safe to say that neither use is ignored by the public. Even if you are simply walking from one side to the other, the experience is enriched by the adjoining leisure spaces to your left and right. This is no different to the rest of La Rambla, where the procession is the activity in of itself.
BORROWING ON A NAME
The importance of the name of Rambla de Mar should not be underestimated. Its clear connotation as an extension of La Rambla reinforces the intention of pedestrians flowing from the city center out to the waterfront. It implies that the bridge is not simply a connector of La Rambla and Port Vell, but in fact a part of La Rambla itself. Calling it “Rambla de Mar” instantly heightens its urban prominence onto the level of the most recognizable urban feature of the city. You can’t argue with the name. With Rambla de Mar, Barcelona cleverly borrows on the cache of La Rambla and channels it into a thriving waterfront district.
Of course, the success of Barcelona’s redeveloped waterfront is not simply a function of semantics. Urbanistically, the project takes a strong axis in the city and directs it to an arguably better terminus. Previously, the end of La Rambla was marked by at a statue of Christopher Columbus at the center of a traffic circle. While a lovely statue, it cannot replace the value in ‘place’ that Port Vell now provides. The revived port gives pedestrians an excuse to continue their stroll down to the water and a reason to spend time there.
LINKING AXES
Although the placement of Rambla de Mar is excellent in the context of the city, its direct connection to La Rambla is less than ideal. The major obstacle of the highway is now sunken below ground at the connecting point, but the gap between the two promenades is still quite wide. Anyone who knows the city is aware of the extension of La Rambla out over the water, but an unassuming visitor could potentially miss it. The launching point of Rambla de Mar is tucked behind the Barcelona Port Authority. One may not realize that if they bend left at the traffic circle and tackle the multitude of crosswalks that their path will continue out to Port Vell.
This hinge point between La Rambla and Rambla de Mar is a weak point in an otherwise excellent urban intervention. Perhaps the connection could be reinforced by some alteration to the traffic circle or plaza adjacent to the Port Authority. It could be as simple as a paving or bollard pattern, or dramatic as a pedestrian bridge that locks into the two promenades, but spans over the roadway. Or even just an alternate planting of trees adjacent to the Port Authority (directional to flank the axis of the promenades, rather than arrayed throughout the plaza). Such changes would help strengthen the connection of La Rambla to the Rambla de Mar and tie Port Vell back to the city even more successfully.
// RAMBLA DE MAR LIT UP AT NIGHT
// RAMBLA DE MAR LIT UP AT NIGHT
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